PhD ceremony Ms. W.E. Kupers: Socially situated learning in individual music lessons

PhD ceremony: Ms. W.E. Kupers

Dissertation: Socially situated learning in individual music lessons

Promotor(s): prof. P.L.C. van Geert

Faculty: Behavioural and Social Sciences

This thesis focuses on different aspects of learning as a socially embedded process. Individual music lessons are a very appropriate context for studying both the ‘ task-related’ features of learning (through the concept of scaffolding) as well as factors relevant for the motivation of students (with a specific focus on self-determination). The core of this thesis is the analysis of the interactions between the music teachers and their beginning students, as they occur from moment to moment within the music lessons. First, a theoretical model was constructed which links self-determination and scaffolding and connects the micro-level timescale of the here-and-now to long-term development. Eight violin and cello teachers and 38 of their beginning students were followed for 18 months by means of video observations, interviews and questionnaires. Next, in a series of connected studies, different parts of the model are analyzed empirically in order to discuss both intra-individual change over time, as well as inter-individual differences.